Tuesday, 7 July 2015

Be My Friend

I sat down to write this, but while I was waiting for the
kettle to boil I thought that I would check out facebook to see how my facebook
friends are doing today. They also put up news items that they seem to think I
would care about and for some inexplicable reason they will from time to time
include cute cat videos. Now, I don’t have anything against cats other than
they are a pretty useless animal to have for a pet that will eat you if for
some reason you are laying incapacitated on the floor of your kitchen and can’t
open the can of Whiskas. To me a cute cat video would be one where the cat
wanders onto a plank and it slowly drifts out to sea.

Now, I am aware that there are people who do not share my
view of cats, what I am having trouble with is why they don’t dislike cats. I
guess it is one of those vive la difference things like masochists, Justin Bieber
fans, conservatives, radical religious fanatics and the people who try to make
their cars look like a Transformer. Pssst…Transformers are not real and neither
are Deceptagons.

What I saw on facebook was a lot of complaining. I can
appreciate that irritating things happen to people every day, like missed
trains, bad weather, stupid co-workers and when the item you went to the store
for is already sold out on the first day of the sale. That’s called life and
how you deal with these things tells a lot about the person that you are. Most
of the problems I see are first world problems and are basically non issues.
Some issues deal with sadness and for some reason it makes those friends happy
to share their grief with others. I am willing to help if that is what it
takes.

I haven’t quite come to grips with how I feel about people
who share their good fortune on facebook. I like to see the happy times
documented but I am not sure that the “friends” on facebook are the friends I
would like to share my life moments with. Some of them sure, but others are
friends because I couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse not to reply to their
friend request. Do I care if you are at a concert of one of your favourite
artists? Hmmmm…. I’m not sure. If it is
one of my favourite artists and you will be telling how great the show was,
then maybe. If on the other hand you are saying you are at CSN&Y concert and
that is the last I hear about it, then bite me! That is just rubbing it in.

I am sure I am guilty of all of these things and more and I
often wonder why I’m not “unfriended” by most or all of my facebook friends. I
suspect that there is a contest that I don’t know about, to see how many
virtual strangers you can get to be your friend and stay your friend. Maybe the
prize is an iPad or one of those Apple watches. It could be a cash prize; God
knows that Mark Zuckerberg could afford to dish out a cash prize or two. Maybe
I should get on the band wagon…